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Video: FilmAid and The Joy Formidable “A Heavy Abacus”

Filmmakers Paola Mendoza and Topaz Adizes spent a month volunteering for nonprofit group FilmAid as visiting teaching artists in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya. While there, they got inspired to shoot a video inside the camp, based around Welsh band The Joy Formidable's single "A Heavy Abacus." The video is a beautifully vivid portrait of young Sudanese refugees, a tribute to the strength and resilience of kids whose lives are in limbo. "So often refugees are forgotten because the problem seems too overwhelming," the directors have stated. "This is an attempt to shake us out of our complacency and recognize the power that is in every one of us to help make the world better.” Impressively, the video was shot in just three days, using one camera, two light reflectors and an iPhone. It's FilmAid's first music video, released in support of World Refugee Day on June 20th.